Cherry Jones

During her more than two decades on the stage, heavily honored Broadway actress and occasional screen player Cherry Jones earned Tony Awards for "The Heiress" and John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt. " Jone...
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Late stage and screen icon Elaine Stritch was honoured with a star-studded Broadway tribute by her famous friends including Nathan Lane and Bernadette Peters on Monday (17Nov14). Stage veterans gathered at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York City for Everybody, Rise! A Celebration of Elaine Stritch, to pay tribute to the life of the actress, who died in July (14) at the age of 89.
Lane was the first speaker at the event, noting that the brassy Stritch was "definitely proud of her gams, often treating pants as an overrated accessory."
Actress Holland Taylor and American gossip columnist Liz Smith offered up memories of their late pal, while Stritch's 30 Rock co-star Alec Baldwin and Cherry Jones shared their fond stories of the actress via video.
Hal Prince, who directed Stritch in her unforgettable role in the 1970 musical Company, also reminded the crowd that she was "a convent girl... as naive as she was sophisticated".
Throughout the two-hour tribute, stage stars including Peters, Betty Buckley, Christine Ebersole, Laura Benanti, Michael Feinstein and Lena Hall took the floor singing a few of the hits Stritch performed on Broadway.
Among those in the audience who wanted to pay a final tribute to the actress were Chita Rivera, Ellen Burstyn, Megan Mullally, Valerie Harper, Mare Winningham, Michael Kors, John Lithgow, Blythe Danner, Barbara Cook, and Tommy Tune.

Christian Camargo, the writer, director and star of new movie Days And Nights, used his family connections to stock the film with all-stars. The Twilight star is married to British thespian Mark Rylance's daughter Juliet, who produced the film with her Tony Award-winning father, and he was thrilled by the names they brought on board.
He tells WENN, "A little nepotism doesn't hurt! It started with a little bit of nepotism, a little bit of friends, and sort of snowballed from there."
But Camargo insists many of the stars who signed up for the film were friends of his that he persuaded to join the cast based on his script: "I worked with Katie (Holmes) before in the play All My Sons - it was her Broadway debut! I was so impressed with what she was capable of doing and her abilities, and felt they were sort of undervalued and underused, so I was really excited to work with her again because she's really good.
"And it was my first film so I needed to really rely on some friends who would be supportive, but, in addition to that, I worked my butt off on this script and I sort of convinced people that it's something that is not done; to have an ensemble movie is just not done very often, so they jumped at the chance to spend 26 days in, like, a theatre camp and just explore."
As well as Holmes, the film also features his wife and father-in-law, Allison Janney, Ben Whishaw, Jean Reno, William Hurt, Cherry Jones and Michael Nyqvist.

Denzel Washington's A Raisin In The Sun has joined plays featuring James Franco and Bryan Cranston among the most financially successful Broadway projects this season after recouping the $4.25 million (2.7 million) it cost to stage. The show, which scooped the Best Revival award at Sunday's (08Jun14) Tonys, recouped the cash just days before the end of its run on Sunday (15Jun14).
The revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s 1959 play has grossed over $1 million (GBP625,000)-a-week throughout its 14-week limited engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre.
A Raisin in the Sun also features LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Anika Noni Rose and Sophie Okonedo, who also picked up a Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play.
Other plays that have recouped their investment on Broadway this season include Franco's Of Mice and Men; Cranston's All the Way, which was named Best Play at the Tonys; The Glass Menagerie, with Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto; Betrayal, with Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz; the Shakespeare’s Globe's Twelfth Night and Richard III double bill, and Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays.

Bryan Cranston, Neil Patrick Harris, Chris O'dowd and Stephen Fry are among the big-name TV stars nominated for top prizes at the 2014 Tony Awards. Breaking Bad star Cranston is up for the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play trophy for his turn in All The Way, which is also nominated in the Best Play category at the awards, held to honour the year's best Broadway performances.
He will compete with Irish actor O'Dowd (Of Mice and Men), Brit Mark Rylance (Richard III), Tony Shalhoub (Act One), and Samuel Barnett (Twelfth Night), who are all nominated in the same category.
Samuel L. Jackson's wife LaTanya Richardson is nominated in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play category for her part in A Raisin in the Sun, but she will have to fend off competition from Tyne Daly (Mothers and Sons), Cherry Jones (The Glass Menagerie), Audra McDonald (Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill), and Estelle Parsons (The Velocity of Autumn).
How I Met Your Mother star Harris leads the nominations in the Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical category for his flamboyant turn in Hedwig and the Angry Inch, while singer Idina Menzel is nominated for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical for her part in If/Then.
Beloved British actor Stephen Fry scooped a nod in the Best Performance by a Featured Actor in a Play category for Twelfth Night, but his fellow Brits Daniel Radcliffe, Sir Ian McKellen and Sir Patrick Stewart were all overlooked despite giving acclaimed performances on the Great White Way.
Fry took to his Twitter.com page on Tuesday (29Apr14) to share his excitement at being nominated, writing, "Oh my goodness, apparently I've been nominated for a Tony award. I can't believe it. How rippingly thrilling."
The winners will be revealed at the 68th annual Tony Awards on 8 June (14) at New York's Radio City Music Hall.

AMC
As Mad Men's long-awaited Season 7 premiere inches ever closer, it's time to start planning that last minute Sunday night viewing soiree. Gather your ultra-fabulous vintage wear (the two Mrs. Drapers offer great inspiration), your je-ne-sais-quoi-infused cigarettes, and perhaps most importantly of all? Some really delicious cocktails – no Mad Men party is really quite complete without some classy alcohol, is it? (Though, be wary not to overindulge Don Draper style – you don't want to wake up in the local drunk tank).
And speaking of Don, we all know he's an old fashioned man, in more ways than one (har-har). Here's a recipe for an old fashioned of which Don would whole-heartedly approve:
Don’s Old Fashioned
*Created by Bobby “G” Gleason, Beam’s Master Mixologist
Ingredients:-2 parts Jim Beam Bourbon-2 dashes of aromatic bitters-1 cherry stem-1 half moon orange slice-1 - 3 sugar cubes
Preparation: In an old-fashioned glass, place sugar and 2 dashes bitters dissolved in water. Fill with ice. Pour 1-1/2 parts Jim Beam® Bourbon; add cherry, orange slice and lemon wedge.
What about the rest of Sterling Cooper &amp; Partners? Well the mad men of Manhattan would surely be unable to resist the charms of this cocktail:
The Mad Man Manhattan
*Created by Bobby “G” Gleason, Beam’s Master Mixologist
Ingredients:-1-1/2 parts Jim Beam Devil’s Cut™-Dash of bitters-3/4 part dry vermouth-1 cherry stem-Ice
Preparation: Combine and stir Jim Beam Devil’s Cut™, dry vermouth, bitters and ice. Strain and pour into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.
And how about our silver fox friend, Roger Sterling? When he's not drinking vodka and milk (the milk helps his ulcer, okay?), his drink of choice is a good ol' smooth and sour. Here are the (delectable) ingredients for a drink that even Roger would be unable to scoff at:
Sterling’s Smooth &amp; Sour
*Created by Bobby “G” Gleason, Beam’s Master Mixologist
Ingredients-2 parts Jim Beam Black Bourbon-1 part amaretto liqueur-1 part triple sec-2 parts sour mix-2 parts lemon-lime soda
Preparation: Serve shaken in a tall glass with cracked ice. Garnish with a squeeze of lemon.
Whether shaken or stirred, you've got the makings for a Mad Men celebration that would do party planning mastermind Megan Draper proud. So grab your drink of choice, pull up a chair, and buckle your metaphorical seatbelts for the premiere of Mad Men's seventh season.
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Star Trek actor Zachary Quinto has won a round of glowing reviews for his Broadway debut in a revival of Tennessee Williams' classic play The Glass Menagerie. Quinto appears opposite Broadway veteran Cherry Jones in the production, which opened in New York this week (ends29Sep13), and he has won acclaim for his role as Jones' onstage son, Tom.
David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter calls Quinto's Broadway debut a "knockout", writing, "A performance of towering complexity from Cherry Jones... (makes) this essential theater. No less impressive is Zachary Quinto's knockout Broadway debut as Williams' most nakedly autobiographical character, Tom."
The New York Daily News' theatre critic Joe Dziemianowicz gives the play five stars out of five, branding it a "must-see" and singles out Quinto for particular praise, adding, "No ifs, ands or buts - The Glass Menagerie should break your heart. The new Broadway revival starring Cherry Jones and Zachary Quinto cracks it wide open."
Elisabeth Vincentelli of the New York Post also praised Quinto and even compared the production to hugely popular TV show Breaking Bad, writing, "This revival of Tennessee Williams' The Glass Menagerie arrives on Broadway... with the excitement usually reserved for Breaking Bad... It's genius! You need it!"
Tony Award winner Jones is best known for her role as President Allison Taylor in hit TV series 24. Quinto also got a big break with a part in the third season of Kiefer Sutherland's drama show.

Ol' Dirty Bastard's widow has filed a motion to prevent organisers of the upcoming Rock the Bells Festival from bringing the late rapper back to life in the form of a hologram. Promoters are planning to raise the tragic Wu-Tang Clan member from the grave to 'perform' at the 2013 touring hip-hop festival, which kicks off in the U.S. in September (13), but now his wife Icelene Jones has taken legal measures to ensure ODB won't be included in the digital performance, also expected to feature Eazy-E.
Jones, who is in control of the late legend's estate, which owns the rights to his lyrics, performances and likeness, has issued a cease and desist order to event planners and she says, "I am disappointed that Rock the Bells would not contact me directly about the use of my husband's image. I am looking forward to talking to Wu-Tang about this matter and coming up with a positive solution."
ODB's mother, Cherry Jones, who has been influential in maintaining her son's legacy, has not yet spoken out about the pending litigation, but earlier this week (begs13May13) she attended the press conference where the news was announced to show her support for the gig.
She said, "It was so wonderful to stand by him again... I think it's (hologram) amazing. I want to sing with it."
The 35 year old, real name Russell Jones, died in 2004.

"It was so wonderful to stand by him again. I don't know how I'm going to react (when I see it onstage) - they'll have to carry me off. But I think it's amazing. I want to sing with it." Late rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard's mother, Cherry Jones, on her reaction after seeing her son's spooky hologram, which will hit the stage at the touring Rock the Bells hip-hop festival later this year (13).

Yesterday’s news that Disney has decided to shutter LucasArts, the videogame company overseen by Lucasfilm that’s produced nearly three decades worth of Star Wars and Indiana Jones games, not to mention the Monkey Island saga, gave us a full-blown nostalgia attack. Disney seems so determined to put all their effort into the production of Episode VII that they’re shutting down much of non-Episode VII Star Wars content, including the Clone Wars TV series and games like Star Wars 1313 that were in the pipeline for future release. Eric Geller, one Star Wars fan who helps run TheForce.Net speaks for many of us by saying, “They seem to think they need a dearth of other SW content to get us excited for the sequels. Have they met us?”
For kids growing up in the ‘90s, LucasArts’ games were the only way to extend the experience of Star Wars beyond endlessly replaying VHS copies of the Original Trilogy. At least, until we were old enough to start reading the Expanded Universe novels. Whether geared for the computer, NES, or N64, these games helped us fall even deeper in love with that Galaxy Far, Far Away. The batting average of these Star Wars games was really formidable, with the X-Wing and Dark Forces series, in particular, being consistently strong. Admittedly, in recent years, the quality of LucasArts’ output has waned. For all the hype, 2008’s The Force Unleashed doesn’t offer gameplay mechanics or storytelling anywhere near as satisfying as that found in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, released six years earlier. But we still played.
RELATED: Disney Closing LucasArts, Future of ‘Star Wars’ Videogames in Question
So, to honor LucasArts’ formidable legacy, movies editor Matt Patches, staff writer Michael Arbeiter, and myself, geek writer Christian Blauvelt, put together our picks for the 10 Best Star Wars Games Ever. Oh yes, and the 5 Worst — nobody's perfect!
10. Episode I—Racer (1999)
This is the Rodney Dangerfield of Star Wars games. A lot of fans think it’s terrible without even having played it. But Racer transforms the best sequence in The Phantom Menace into kinetic art, taking you to wholly alien environments like the sulfuric planet Malastare, ocean world Aquilaris, and airless vacuum planet Oovo IV. No, it doesn’t have a story or any depth to its characters—though you do get to play as all the weird alien podracers you glimpse during the Boonta Eve Classic in the movie—but Racer isn’t trying to be “cinematic” like so many games today (games, which, as a result, are often too easy when it comes to actual gameplay). Racer is a souped-up arcade actioner. It capitalizes on your reflexes and muscle memory rather than your higher cognitive functions. But that also means that, like many of the arcade classics, it’s a lot more difficult, and thus a lot more replayable than games with supposedly loftier ambitions. And it has Watto saying stuff like “Ohhhh….You want buy pit droid, eh?” How could you not love that? — Christian Blauvelt
9. Shadows of the Empire (1996)
Lucasfilm’s idea of creating a multimedia “interquel,” a story that explores what Luke and Leia did in between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, took various forms: a novel written by Steve Perry that focused primarily on the movie characters, a graphic-novel tie-in, and a Nintendo 64 game that cut out Luke and Leia entirely to focus on gun-for-hire Dash Rendar, the scruffiest nerfherder in the galaxy not named Han Solo. As Dash, you follow the breadcrumbs from planet to planet to find out where Solo, frozen in carbonite, has been taken, so you can attempt a rescue. Along the way, you encounter droid bounty hunter IG-88, Boba Fett, and a giant dianoga—the tentacle garbage compactor creature from A New Hope! — Christian Blauvelt
RELATED: Why ‘Clone Wars’ Was Star Wars At Its Best
8. Yoda Stories (1997)
You land in the murky waters of Dagobah, your X-Wing pixilated and your R2 unit complete with incomprehensible speech bubbles. And there, you will find your mission of the day: Where will Master Yoda send you this time — Tatooine, Hoth, Endor? Who will you be charged with saving — Han Solo, Princess Leia, C3P0? The Game Boy and PC adventure game sent the player (as Luke) off on multifaceted quests, completing small tasks to aid in the ultimate conquest against baddies like Jabba the Hutt, the Rancor, swarms of Jawas, and even Darth Vader. Combining the joys of platform games and clever puzzles with Star Wars fandom makes Yoda Stories among the best of LucasArts’ contributions. —Michael Arbeiter
7. Dark Forces (1995)
LucasArts did an amazing job creating new characters and designs for their games, and Dark Forces became more than a Doom knock-off thanks to the inclusion of mercenary Kyle Katarn and the revelation of the "Dark Troopers." For a mid-90s, first-person shooter, Dark Forces had unprecedented atmosphere and an array of recognizable weapons finally put in the hands of Star Wars fans. Being able to wield a thermal detonator — only briefly seen in the first trilogy — brought a new dimension to the world we already loved. — Matt Patches
6. Battlefront II (2006)
Upgrading the skirmish style of the original Battlefront, the sequel opened up the format for larger missions, saga-spanning story arcs, space combat, and the ability to play as a Jedi. Sure, putting us in the third-person perspective of a Stormtrooper or Rebel gunman was fun, but dropping Mace Windu in the middle of a battle to slice up battalions of Droidekas and pesky Geonosians was a dream come true. Being able to run over Windu with a Trade Federation tank and send him flying off a cliff bumped Battlefront II up to "classic" territory. And the cherry on top: we loved John Williams' cue "Battle of Heroes" in Star Wars: Episode III, but when it backed up our long nights wiping out invading forces during Battlefront II's many campaigns, it was empowering. — Matt Patches
RELATED: Han Solo the Lizard, and Other Oddities of the ‘Star Wars’ First Draft
5. Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
Compared to Jedi Outcast released the year before, the actual gameplay of KOTOR isn’t great. You have no control over lightsaber combat — moves are actually determined by virtual “dice throws.” But that’s pretty much the norm in role-playing games. What you do get is a story set in a wholly unexplored period of Star Wars history and possibly the most character-driven LucasArts game ever. 3,900 years before the events of the movies, the Republic is at war with the Sith. Or rather, two Jedi, who’ve turned to the Dark Side and are calling themselves Darth Revan and Darth Malak. You play an anonymous Republic soldier with extraordinary abilities that are only slowly discovered throughout the course of the game as you battle back the darkness. As an RPG, KOTOR allows you to make key moral choices throughout the story that determine the direction of the plot…and your character’s ultimate fate, leading up to the most shocking Star Wars reveal since “I am your father.” Also, you will never learn more about the internal politics of Wookiee culture. — Christian Blauvelt
NEXT: What's the best Star Wars game ever? Plus, our picks for the 5 Worst.
4. The Empire Strikes Back (1992)
In the early days of LucasArts, being able to recreate any amount of the Star Wars trilogy was a gift to fans. Like it's movie counterpart, 1992's Empire Strikes Back — debuting first on the NES then ported over to the Gameboy — managed to, for the first time, convey the thrills of the narrative with involving gameplay. The graphics were low-res, the functionality imperfect (no you f**king Tauntaun, MOVE THIS WAY), but in the end, Luke's Hoth escapades and first taste of force powers made for hours of side-scrolling fun. There's a comic book style to Luke's lightsaber movement that remains imprinted on my mind, even today. — Matt Patches
3. Rogue Squadron (1998)
While we cannot forgive the whines and groans that accompanied Luke Skywalker’s desire to take up with the Academy, we can finally understand just why he so desperately wanted to be a pilot: Rogue Squadron gave us the chance to try our hand behind the X-Wing wheel, zipping with an impressive fluidity (at least for that era of video gaming) through some of the Star Wars franchise’s most formidable locales. Highlights of the game include taking down Imperial Walkers with some fancy footwork and a spool of yarn, and taking a dip in the gelatin-esque waters of Mon Calamari. Avoid the tasty topography of this realm: It’s a trap! — Michael Arbeiter
RELATED: ‘Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ Canceled, New Series Planned
2. X-Wing Alliance (1998)
The last, and best, game in the PC X-Wing series puts you in the cylindrical cockpit of a YT-1300 freighter (for non-nerds, that’s a ship of the same class as the Millennium Falcon), a Y-Wing, a B-Wing, an A-Wing, and just about every other type of craft you can imagine. But it’s not just a first-person space-combat simulator. X-Wing Alliance tells a deep, involving story about a family, the Azzameens, who run a shipping company around the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. When the Empire tries to take over their business, they defect to the Rebel Alliance, and, as Ace, the hotshot pilot who’s the Azzameen family’s cocky youngest son, you participate in the mission to steal the plans for the Second Death Star and finally fly into the Death Star’s reactor shaft in the Battle of Endor itself. — Christian Blauvelt
1. Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast (2002)
I’d argue the Star Wars Expanded Universe is at its very best when focusing on characters who aren’t in the films. That allows storytellers other than George Lucas to explore nooks and crannies of the Star Wars galaxy without being a slave to continuity. It also means those novels and videogames don’t feel compelled to drown in the movies’ Joseph Campbell-knockoff mythology and can take different narrative pathways. Exhibit A for how well this can work? The Dark Forces series, which reaches its apex in Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, the greatest Star Wars game ever produced. Flinty, bearded, commando-turned-Jedi Kyle Katarn has to rescue his partner and lover, Jan Ors, from the clutches of one of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi students who turned to the Dark Side. It’s Star Wars' answer to The Searchers, and it takes Kyle from the seedy, neon-tinted Hutt demimonde of Nar Shaddaa to the glistening spires of Cloud City (where you have an epic lightsaber fight in the carbon-freeze room, just like Empire Strikes Back!), to the jungles of Yavin 4.
The level maps are crammed with detail, from the little Ugnaughts who populate Cloud City’s underlevels (who you can slice with your lightsaber if you’re feeling mean-spirited: we do!) to the latest craze in interstellar mixology, a ruby bliel, the must-order drink from your local Chiss barman. And though later games like The Force Unleashed have been touted for their gameplay mechanics, none can compare to Jedi Outcast and its hyper-dynamic lightsaber combat—especially when you have “realistic saber combat” mode activated, allowing for full dismemberment. Until someone invents a T-14 hyperdrive, playing Jedi Outcast is the closest thing to visiting that Galaxy Far, Far Away for real. — Christian Blauvelt
THE 5 WORST STAR WARS VIDEOGAMES
5. Force Commander (2000)
LucasArts was never able to make a great real-time strategy game. The closest they ever came was with Star Wars: Empire at War and Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds—Clone Campaigns, which basically just used the Age of Empires engine. Force Commander was a particular misfire, though, with an unwieldy camera and uninspired combat.
4. Empire at War—Forces of Corruption (2006)
However, Force Commander wasn’t as bad as this epic dud. The sequel to Empire at War features the smallest game maps for an RTS game we’ve ever seen. They’re so small that when a Super Star Destroyer shows up for the finale, it takes up practically the entire map, with no room for maneuverability. A huge missed opportunity.
3. Rebellion (1998)
It’s not just that Rebellion hasn’t aged well, it’s that the PC game’s graphics looked archaic even when it came out in 1998, especially compared to what you could find on the N64 with Rogue Squadron, released the same year. A sad, lazy effort.
2. Kinect Star Wars (2012)
This is the game that gave us Princess Leia dancing in her metal bikini to “Genie in a Bottle.” ‘Nuff said.
1. Masters of Teräs Käsi (1998)
With a name like Masters of Teräs Käsi how could it not be the worst Star Wars game ever?
[Photo Credit: LucasArts]
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When you think of the working cogs in the creation of a Hollywood movie, your mind inevitably jumps to the big guns, the spotlit actors, esteemed directors, writers, producers, and then a long assortment of crew members — costume designers, the lighting department, stuntmen, stage, art, sound, all the way down to the guy who slams the clapperboard. But there is one component of any movie's production that we are not likely to consider who may be the keystone to the whole industry: craft services.
The everpresent, but underappreciated men and women of the "crafty" world drive one of the most essential elements of any film set — people gotta eat — and jump more hurdles than you might think to do so. According to longtime fixtures of the crafty business like Eat Catering's Danielle Wilson and Joe Facey of Joe's Craft Services, both based in New York, there is a lot more to the field than people think.
Sure, the job may have started out "basically like a stagehand," as Facey puts it. But "it has changed a lot [since he] first started." Facey says, "The term 'craft services' refers to 'servicing the craftsman.' It used to be the guy on the stage who would sweep the stage down, put out some donuts and coffee, and if somebody needed something from the store, you’d go get it for them." These days, however are long gone — the position has evolved to something far more than a glorified gofer.
Today, when you're a craft service worker, you're taking on a slew of other jobs as well:
Nutritionist
An obvious element of the food service industry is nutrition, but some figures in the crafty world pay more attention to the idea than others. "I try to keep it super healthy," says Wilson, an experienced chef who worked in restaurants and corporate catering before getting onto craft service in 1999. "My table, I try to keep at least 60% or 70% whole foods or organic foods or healthy foods. There’s always going to be people on the job who just want their chips or their candy, but I try to keep it pretty minimal. I try to keep a bigger selection out there."
Wilson is "more intro nutrition" than some of her contemporaries, who might "just throw out Oreos or Ho-Hos on the table." Wilson's goal isn't just to keep people fed, but also "sustain[ing] energy throughout the day with food choices, making sure we have six or eight little hot meals or little hot choices throughout the day, in addition to healthy platters. So it’ll be sustained energy, instead of a sugar crash."
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Security Guard
"You have tons of big name actors, and hundreds of people with their cameras," Wilson says. "We have to put up screens to get them away from us, so that we can actually start the filming day, or we’d get nothing done." Sometimes, however, a screen is not enough. And it's not even the actors that people are after...
"Being in New York, the biggest thing that drives me nuts is people who aren’t even affiliated with the film who come by and try to steal and take your craft services," Wilson says. "We have to defend the table. I’ve worked in L.A., too. And I’ve worked in Connecticut. All around. But in New York, it’s the worst. People seem to think they are entitled to stealing or taking your craft services. You constantly have to defend and get the people off the table."
Wilson continues: "People steal! It’s amazing ... You get people with Louis Vitton, driving Mercedes, that act like since you’re there, you’re serving the whole town. Which is crazy." She says, "I have treasure chests, or big glass jars full of raw nuts, or something like that. I see them trying to take the whole thing. You’re like, ‘What are you doing?’ There’s many times I don’t go to lunch, if we have a lot of background or we’re in a location."
And that's hardly even the worst of it: "I’ve had random people — like in Chinatown, guy in a suit came up to pee on my tent. Broad daylight, at 8 AM, where there’s tons of people. I had to hose down the side of my tent with hot water. A human being peed on my tent. For no reason whatsoever.
Medic
But even in the presence of healthy foods, crews can endure their share of aches and pains. "Then there are things like, someone gets a headache," Facey says. "Or they have an upset stomach because they ate something wrong the day before. So you want to carry Pepto Bismol, and Aspirin, and things like that."
And along with internal maladies, you also come across external injuries: "You want to make sure you have ice, in case someone hurts themselves," Facey says. "Sometimes, you have a set medic on set, sometimes you don’t. But they don’t carry ice. They carry icepacks, but what you need is a real bag of ice." And it's not only the cast and crew that suffers such fates, but the craft services folk themselves...
Daredevil
"People seem to think it’s an easy job, but ... it’s very physical," Wilson says. "I’ve been hurt many times ... Both my knees have been injured, both my ankles have been injured. I literally just got out of a walking boot cast — I sprained my foot." It's vexing to wonder what aspects of the craft services job throw their workers into this kind of danger. "You have to move around quickly, heavy stuff needs to be lifted, lots of movement. Sometimes you have to change locations up to five times a day, depending on your shooting schedule.
NEXT: Why Tommy Lee Jones Can't Have Cherry Ices
Local Business Patron
Wilson "like[s] to work with the community" in which her project is shooting, throwing a bone to local restaurants in return for the production's occupation of their neighborhoods. "if I can buy local, I’ll buy local. A lot of times, if we’re in the neighborhood and taking up a lot of the parking, I’ll go to one of the neighborhood restaurants and order a couple of hundred dollars of food — hot food to put on the table." While Wilson "could easily cook it," she's in the mindset that you "want to make sure you’re aware of your surroundings," so that you can give back.
She recalls a recent shoot that took place in Schenectady, N.Y.: the upcomong Ryan Gosling drama, The Place Beyond the Pines. "That was a fun one ... I’m really big on dealing with the farmer’s market. I wound up meeting all the farmers." This sensibility has earned her a handful of symbiotic relationships over the years. "I would tell them, ‘Listen, let’s do a deal. If I come here right before it closes at two, any of your leftover produce I’ll buy off you for half price.’"
It's not only Wilson and the markets that benefit from this, but the production crews: "I got to meet a lot of local farmers, got a lot of local harvests, and got to use it on the show. Everybody was happy, because we got to do a lot of corn relishes, we made jams. It was great. At the same time, it was kind of fun — like a camping experience, because we were upstate."
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Entertainer
In addition to providing pleasure and comfort through food, Facey goes the extra mile, stimulating every sense he can. "My whole idea is to make the experience of visiting the table enjoyable," Facey says.
He plays the librarian: "I, myself, do a magazine rack. It has magazines in it. So if you’ve got some free time to kill, and you’re bored, you grab a magazine or look at a newspaper."
He plays the DJ: "I play music all day. As long as I’m not close enough to the set so that you can hear it, from the moment I open my truck to the moment I leave, I play music at the table all day ... I play some jazz. Nothing really radical. Sometimes, something more upbeat. There are days when I barbecue, and I’ll play something upbeat — I like to have something upbeat while I’m cooking."
He plays the toy store: "I’ve had jobs where we’ve had a lot of kids. I did three seasons of a TV series, Pete and Pete on Nickelodeon. And I did the movie Scent of a Woman, where we had 600 boys. And on other days, we had 30 or 40, where we just had to show kids walking around on campus. And when they’re not eating, and they’re waiting in what we call a holding area for the next scene, how do you keep them occupied? And keep them from being bored? I’ll bring in a bunch of board games. I’ll lay them out in the holding area to keep them busy."
Parent, Therapist, and Captain All In One
Facey and Wilson agree: a film crew is like one big family. Or at least "a cross between a family and a military unit," according to Facey. "You might even say they’re like a bunch of guys on a ship. You’re stuck together, and you have to learn to get along, and deal with stuff."
"You go through ups and downs. If you’re stuck in an 18-and-a-half-hour day, you’re exhausted, you have to keep feeding [everybody]," Wilson says. "Everyone’s cranky. Just like you would be if you were stuck with your family for 18 hours, at Thanksgiving or something."
Wilson explains that because of these tight relationships, she keeps a good memory of her colleagues' dietary preferences, which always surprises them. "[They'll ask,] ‘How did you know I still like Nestlé Quik?’ Or, ‘How did you know I’m still lactose intolerant?’," Wilson says. "When you work with each other day in and day out for four to six weeks, or possibly eight weeks… it’s like if you had a brother that’s allergic to nuts."
All in all, Wilson considers a film set like a home, and her station the heart and soul: "A lot of producers come [to the craft services table] to talk about what’s going on. Fights take place — verbal fights take place. There’s a lot of stuff that happens. Just like at home, with the kitchen. The heart of the house is the kitchen, where people have discussions, and you argue, sometimes it’s great…"
Sage Advisor
When asked to supply words of wisdom for any youngsters hoping to get into the craft services business, Facey had a very specific piece of advice: "I know for sure, now, that if you’re passing out Italian ices to people in the summer — because it’s really hot — that you don’t want to let the actors have any cherry." Why, you ask?
"They can only have lemon," Facey says. "I worked on the movie Men In Black, and Tommy Lee Jones took an Italian ice. It was a cherry flavored one, and he ate the whole thing right before he was supposed to do a scene — and his lips were bright red. Which didn’t make Barry Sonnenfeld very happy."
He continues: "He saw Tommy’s lips and just started screaming, 'Where’s Joe?! Where is he? Find him now!' And it was funny, because I was actually right behind him with the tray of ices. I said, 'Barry, I’m right here,' and he turned around, and he went, '…Maybe you shouldn’t feed the actors so much.' That was kind of funny. You learn those kinds of things."
So the next time you think of craft services, don't stop at images of 6-feet buffet tables topped with muffins and bottled water. Think of Wilson and Facey — their work keeping their crews healthy, happy, entertained, protected, and free of embarrassing red lips.
And none of these are easy jobs. Actors love cherry.
Find Wilson at Eat Catering and Facey at Joe's Craft Services.
Follow Michael Arbeiter on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter.
[Photo Credit: Joe's Craft Service]

Won acclaim for her performance in Paula Vogel's Off-Broadway play "The Baltimore Waltz"

First TV-movie, played Tina Crawford in "Alex: The Life of a Child" (ABC)

Lent her voice to the PBS documentary "The West"

Co-starred with Swoosie Kurtz in the Nora Ephron play "Imaginary Friends" on Broadway

Starred as Sister Aloysius in the Boradway production of "Doubt"

Returned to the stage as Josie Hogan in O'Neill's "A Moon for the Misbegotten"; earned a Best Actress Tony nomination

Played deaf maid Lucy in Wade Allen's "Julian Po"

Made television debut in the failed detective pilot "O'Malley"

Following graduation from college, spent a year with the BAM Theater Company at the Brooklyn Academy of Music

Starred in 18-minute short, "Polio Water"; written and directed by Caroline Kava

Played Lady Macduff in the Christopher Plummer-Glenda Jackson production of "Macbeth"

Summary

During her more than two decades on the stage, heavily honored Broadway actress and occasional screen player Cherry Jones earned Tony Awards for "The Heiress" and John Patrick Shanley's "Doubt. " Jones' affinity for independent, heroic females carried over into her screen appearances, which increased in the new millennium to include supporting roles as a fellow opponent of environmental poisoning in "Erin Brockovich" (2000) and the matriarch Grandma Buggy in "Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood" (2002). When she was approached to take on the role of the courageous and idealistic first female President of the United States on the espionage drama "24" (Fox, 2001- ), primetime audiences were finally granted the opportunity to enjoy one of Broadway's finest actors from the comfort of their own living rooms.

Name

Role

Comments

Thelma Cherry

Grandmother

Maternal grandmother; encouraged her to pursue an acting career

Mary O'Connor

Companion

Designed Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, NY; was thanked in 1995, when Jones accepted her first Tony Award; no longer together

Became public with their relationship during the 2005 Tony Awards; Jones confirmed their split in October 2009

Education

Name

Carnegie-Mellon University

Notes

"The parts sent my way are usually in films I wouldn't be caught dead in because they're either horribly violent or lack any kind of hope and optimism. I just can't bear that. So many people in my business whom I love and respect get filthy rich cramming this violent message down America's throat every night." - Jones to USA Today, June 5, 1995

"I suppose my bitterness about Hollywood comes from having lost so many of my friends to Los Angeles. Still, I've rarely known an actor who's moved there to achieve a higher level of artistry. It's about fame and fortune and with fame and fortune comes a tremendous amount of compromise. I hope I can enter through the back door, just nice, small manageable character parts. Nothing is worth the loss of personal anonymity. I'm fascinated by film but there are many brilliant women honing their craft in movies. They don't need me." - Jones to The Los Angeles Times, Sept. 8, 1996